Stuffed Acorn Squash
ACTIVE TIME: 40 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 1 hour 40 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Software
- 4 (1- to 1 1/4-pound) acorn squash
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
- 8 ounces ground pork
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 1/4 cup chopped celery
- 1/4 cup chopped carrot
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 1/2 cups cooked rice
- 1 (10-ounce) package frozen spinach, thawed, drained, and chopped
- 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 0.25 teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Procedure
- Heat oven to 400ºF. Line a half-sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- Cut 1 inch off the top of each acorn squash and scoop out the seeds. If necessary in order for the squash to sit upright, cut off a small portion of the bottom. Put 1 of the 4 pieces of butter in the cavity of each squash. Set squash on the prepared sheet pan and set aside.
- In a large saute pan set over medium heat, brown the ground pork until no longer pink, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the meat from the pan, add the olive oil, and saute the onion, celery, and carrot until they begin to soften, 7 to 10 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the white wine.
- Return the pork to the pan along with the cooked rice, spinach, pine nuts, oregano, salt and pepper, to taste. Stirring constantly, heat mixture thoroughly, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Divide the mixture evenly among the squash, top each squash with its lid, and bake until the squash is tender, about 1 hour. Serve immediately.